Composing Christmas Instrumental Music

Christmas-Image

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts about the creative process, care and feeding of your creative mind,  song ideas normally don’t come to me as a bolt of lightning from the clouds. Instead, my creative process often needs a nudge. I’ve found that it works best for me to assign myself projects to provide that spark of inspiration to get me started down the creative path.

Sometimes these assignment ideas come from things designed to help me grow as a composer, such as learning how to write and arrange for certain types of instruments in the orchestra. Other times the ideas come from a more practical reason, such as recognizing the types of music getting placed into TV shows and making an attempt to create music to fit those genres.

Still other times, the ideas come from a completely spontaneous urge to do something for the fun of it, for no good reason at all, such as: “hey, wouldn’t it be hilariously fun to create a song that sounds like it came from a car commercial in 1960, …” These kinds of ideas usually come from my sense of humor. It’s liberating every now and then to turn off the pressure to make music that sounds modern or cool and go in the completely opposite direction just to make someone laugh. If music is about conveying emotion then why not explore the quirky, weird, horribly out-of-style, sentimental emotions once in a while.

This is how my Christmas instrumental started. It began as an experiment to create that bubbly-happy glamour music heard in old TV shows or car commercials from the 1960s, never thinking that this path would result in a Christmas tune.  I was trying to capture the music that might be used in a scene with Audrey Hepburn, not Santa Claus.

Every time I found a good representation of this genre I took note of the elements that captured the style so well. In a similar way that you might approach a painting, I began to list all of the instruments that would make up the sound pallet for my new song experiment, by auditioning the sounds from my sample libraries that I use for composing (large orchestra string sounds, pizzicato-violins playing happy melodies, harps, etc)  Then I set myself to work with my guitar to come up which a chord progression and melody that would represent this style.Zsa-Zsa-Gabor  One thing I noticed in much of the music from this genre is some of the interesting ways the chord progressions would modulate into new keys as the song would evolve to give the listener the feeling of moving forward through a scene, not standing still. It took several weeks of arranging and editing the string parts and melody to make every thing work as I heard it in my head.  After finishing the orchestration of the song and mixing all the final tracks, I decided to call the song “Give Me Park Avenue”, since it reminded me of the type of music that would have been played behind a glamorous female character like Zsa Zsa Gabor from the TV show Green Acres.

      1. Give Me Park Avenue

After releasing the song, I thought that this was the end of my little experiment, and I’d satisfied my goal of making some decent parody music for a 1960’s spoof. Then as I started listening to the song even more, I decided that it would make a great Christmas song if I only added a few more sounds to the orchestra.

Berlin-ChristmasSo I decided to make a holiday version of the same song, by re-working original arrangement by adding new parts for orchestral chimes, glockenspiel, and sleigh bells. It took a little re-arranging of some of the string parts but in the end, I was even happier with the resulting Christmas version of my new parody tune than I was with the original version.

      2. Give Me Park Avenue (Holiday Version)

When I first created this song I had no idea of the market potential for this type of music, thinking that it may be a very long time before I found anyone interested in such music and would probably need to count this one as a learning experience and nothing more.  However, in the weeks that followed I found several potential opportunities to pitch the song to including a holiday TV ad campaign for a European retail chain, and a US record company looking for holiday music for rotation into shopping malls for the holiday shopping season.  (Fingers crossed hoping that my song is considered for either one)

Here are the lessons I learned in working through this project:

  • Find those projects that get you motivated to create, even if you have to come up with the ideas yourself. The important thing is to have a vision to work on that excites you.
  • Don’t be afraid to explore your sense of humor for song ideas, even if they may seem uncool or nerdy
  • Your childhood can be a great source of inspiration since there is so much emotion locked into your memories of the past
  • Don’t be afraid to re-work an existing song into something new, such as a holiday version
  • As they say in the Hokey Pokey “put your whole self in, and shake it all about …”  Always, do your best job with any song that you take to completion.  Never do minimal effort – your time and creativity should never be wasted!

Until next time, happy music making!
–Jim

Give Me Park Avenue

      1. Give Me Park Avenue
I wrote this song to capture the sound of the retro glamour music used in TV ads of the 1950s for car commercials or fashion ads. This style is represented by very bright and happy sounding glamour music. This kind of music was also used in various TV shows and public service ads. I used orchestral sounds to capture this style, as most TV shows in those days had a live orchestra with full string section.

Understanding Intervals Part I

Jim-Photo-StudioThis is my second article in a series covering some basic concepts of music theory, concentrating on topics relating to musical harmony. In this article I’ll be covering the concept of Intervals. It’s important to learn about intervals since they are the most basic building block of harmony.

The term “interval” is used to describe the pitch distance between two musical notes, whether those notes are played together or consecutively.  When someone says “interval” think of it as another word for “musical distance”. In this article I’ll be explaining the names of these distances and also providing many examples of how these musical “distances” are used in music.

Musical distances are often described in terms of a unit called “steps”. First, I will define what is meant by a “step” as it pertains to music. Then I’ll describe intervals using the “step” as our unit of measurement.

What are “steps”?

To describe steps we will start with the smallest unit of measurement called the half step.  A “half step” is the distance between two adjacent keys on a piano such as C to C#, or B to C
keyboard-half-steps

On fretted instrument, such as guitar or bass, a “half step” would be the distance of 1 fret.

guitar-neck-half-steps

 

A “whole step” is the distance of two half-steps.  On a piano this would be the distance of three adjacent keys (two 1/2 steps), such as C to D, or Ab to Bb. On guitar/bass this would be the distance of 2 frets.

Now that we have these basic units of whole step and half step defined, we can use them to describe musical “distances between notes”.

Octave and Unison

In western music (i.e. music that had it’s origins in Western Europe) an octave is divided up into 12 half steps. If you start at any key on the piano, and go up to the next adjacent key (a 1/2 step), and continue in this way 12 more times you will end up on the same note in the next register. We call this distance of 12 half-steps an “octave”.  The staring note and ending note are the same note (for example “C”) but they are said to be one octave apart.

Octave-staffThe term “octave” is used to describe notes of the same musical pitch but in different registers.  It’s easy to visually see the interval of an octave on the piano.

On guitar, the octave can be played in a few different ways. Here are a few different fingerings for doing octaves on guitar using the 1st and 4th finger, or 1st and 3rd fingers.
common-octave-fingerings-guitar

How are octaves used for in music?
Octaves are used extensively in music to add richness to the sound of a melody or single note. For example, if you pluck the strings of a 12-string guitar, the lower strings are tuned in octaves so that one note makes the sound of two stings together (tuned an octave apart). This is what gives a 12-string guitar such a big sound when you strum it or play a melody line on it. Wes Montgomery was a famous Jazz guitarist who popularized a style of playing solo guitar lines in octaves (see the octave fingerings above), using his thumb to strike both notes together (an octave apart). This helped to add a richness to his melody lines as he played them on guitar.

How are unisons used in music?
The word “unison” is used to describe the interval of two instruments playing exactly the same pitch (not an octave apart, but the exact same note within the same octave). Unisons are often used in music to add fullness and volume to a sound, similar to the way octaves are used. If you’ve ever heard a group of bagpipers and noticed how loud and full it sounds when there are several pipers playing together, what you’re hearing is the whole band playing everything in unison. The low drone and the melody line is often played the same by all the members which creates a huge sound in unison. When recording vocals a common production technique called “doubling” involves recording a singer performing the same exact vocal part multiple times. When those multiple tracks mixed together (often the multiple tracks are panned left/right to give a wide stereo affect) the resulting sound is a much richer version of the same vocal part. This is a great example of the usefulness of a “unison” sound.

Minor 2nd

The interval of “minor second” is defined as two notes which are a 1/2 step away from each other (e.g. C and Db).  This creates a tense sound.minor-2nd-staff

 

 

 

Here is the sound of the minor 2nd interval:
1. minor second example - piano     

The minor 2nd interval’s tense sound is often used in soundtracks for horror and thriller movies, usually played in the upper register with violins as shown in this example below:

2. minor second scary strings example     

But this interval can also have a beautiful sound as well, when used in the right context.  You will find the minor 2nd interval within chord voicings that use close harmony (all of the notes of a chord in closest proximity to each other, within the same octave) such as this voicing of A minor add9 chord. Aminor-add9-chord

 

 

3. minor second close voiced chord example     

 

Major 2nd

The “major second” is defined as two notes which are a full step away from each other (e.g. C and D).Major-2nd-staff  This major 2nd interval has a kind of open sound to it.  .

 

4. major second piano example     

Amajor-add9-chordYou will also find the Major 2nd used in chords with close voicings, such as this A add9 chord.  The major 2nd adds a kind of “wholesome” vibe.  You hear this kind of use of the major 2nd in film sound tracks as well.

5. major second close voiced strings     

 

Minor 3rd

The “minor third” is defined as two notes that are 1 & 1/2 steps away from each other (e.g. C and Eb).minor-3rd-staff  The minor 3rd makes up one of the key building blocks of triads and chords. We will be talking more about the minor 3rd as we get into a discussion on chords.  Notice that the minor 3rd, has a rather “sad’ sound to it.

6. minor 3rd piano example     

 

Major 3rd

The “major third” is defined as two notes that are 2 full-steps away from each other. (e.g. C and E).major-3rd-staff  The major 3rd is also one of the sounds that is used extensively as it makes up one of the key building blocks of triads and chords.   Notice, in comparison to the minor 3rd, the major 3rd has a happy sound to it.

7. major 3rd piano example     

When chords are referred to as “Major” or “Minor”, the name comes from the interval of the 3rd within the chord (relative to the root note of the chord). Minor chords contain a minor 3rd interval, and major chords contain a major 3rd interval. I’ll be covering chords in more detail in a a upcoming articles.    The minor and major 3rd intervals are one of the most common ways to harmonize melody lines in music.  Here is one example of the use of major and minor thirds being used as harmony in this recognizable guitar riff from Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”.

8. maj 3rd min 3rd example guitar intro     

 

Perfect 4th

The perfect 4th is defined as two notes that are 2 and 1/2 steps away from each other (e.g. C and F).perfect-4th-staff
Jazz piano players often rely on chord voicings based on use of 4ths to create sophisticated open-sounding chords.

9. perfect 4th piano example     

The perfect 4th interval is commonly used for certain types of guitar fills found in classic soul and R&B of the 1960s.  Paul McCartney used this same kind of sound (relying on a basic melody harmonized in perfect 4ths) for the opening guitar riff for his song “Band on The Run”.

10. perfect 4th guitar riff example     

 

Augmented 4th

The augmented fourth (also called a diminished 5th) is defined as two notes that are 3 whole steps apart from each other.augmented-4th   This interval is also called a tri-tone and is found within dominant 7th chords. In early music this interval was also referred to as the devil’s interval and was strictly avoided by early composers because it was thought to have such a horrible sound. However, in Jazz music especially, this interval forms the basis for some very interesting harmony and chord substitution techniques.  It can also evoke a kind of odd “quirky” quality when used in the right way.

11. augmented 4th example     

 

You can hear a great example of this “quirky” quality of the augmented 4th interval used extensively in the theme from The Simpsons (written by Danny Elfman).

In part II of my article I’ll be covering fifths, sixths, and sevenths. I’ll also include some useful summaries tables.  Happy music making!

Daybreak

Daybreak

      1. Daybreak
I wrote this song to capture the way it feels when you see the sun come up in the morning and know that anything is possible with good coffee and determination. I used guitar, Ukulele, lapsteel, bass, drums, cellos, and my daughter Audrey provided the great vocal parts to help add the finishing touch to the song that I was looking for.

Understanding Musical Harmony: Intro

HarmonyOne of my goals for this site has been to educate people about music itself, to help spread the knowledge that I’ve picked up over the years of learning from various music teachers, other musicians, books I’ve read, and my own experience as a musician and composer.   Early on, all I ever wanted to be was a good guitar player, but one of my first guitar teachers drilled into my head that every musician should understand music itself, not just how to play their instrument.  His argument was that a solid understanding of music theory would empower you to play in almost any style you like, in any key you like, and make sense of what other musicians were doing.  I took his advice to heart and tried to learn as much as I could about music over the years.  Every time I learned a new song or new guitar lick that I liked, I tried to analyze it on musical terms to find out why it worked.  More often than not, there was usually something that pointed back to a topic I’d learned in my music studies that explained why something worked.   I’ve always wanted to pass along those bits of information that helped my understanding so that I may inspire other musicians in the same way as I have been.  I just wasn’t sure how to do this brain dump until now.

First a disclaimer:

The information I’m providing here is not a substitute for a complete course in music theory. There are plenty of books and resources online to obtain more complete coverage of music theory.  Instead, I will focus my articles on those topics that I use most often songwriting and soloing while leaving out the topics that are more focused on the aspects of music notation and sight reading, which you would cover in any music theory course. As a general emphasis, I’ll focus more on the topics pertaining to an understanding of harmony rather than rhythm and notation.

Music theory can be an intimidating subject to a lot people because the material itself can be a little dry and technical in nature.  I will try to make my explanations more interesting so that it doesn’t read like a text book, but more like a straightforward explanation of how things work (that’s my goal anyway). I’ll also try to explain these concepts by giving lots of musical examples that most people will be familiar with.

When I took music theory courses in college, one of my criticisms was that the musical examples used in the class were often taken from classical works that I wasn’t familiar with. I always wondered why someone didn’t present the material in a more straightforward way using examples found in music that was written in the past century that most people would have heard in popular music, TV, radio, Broadway shows, etc.

What is Music Theory and Why Study It?

Think of music theory as an explanation of the structure of western music in the same way that science and physics explains the structure and laws of the natural world. By “western music”, I don’t mean music played by guys in cowboy hats and rind-stone suits with names like Hmozart_at_the_pianoanksitar-player-jayanthi-kumaresh-658x325, Merle, and Buck.  In this context western music refers to music that has its roots in Europe (based on the use of an equally-tempered 12-tone system, or 12 pitches per octave) as compared to music originating in Asia, the Middle East, and India that use completely different tonal system (use of micro tones, etc) that are not normally used in western music.

In the same way that you can appreciate the natural world without having a deep understanding of the laws of physics and biology, your brain is already familiar with the musical structure explained by music theory from exposure to the huge amount of music that you encounter everyday that you’re not even conscious of (music from the web, music used in TV ads, underscore music in film, music that is part of your video games or phone apps) .  Your brain responds to this structure in an emotional way, even though you may not be conscious of the underlying structure of the music itself.  This is an example of the universal language of music.  It’s a language of feeling and emotion.  Music theory only tries to explain these commonly-used structures and set of guidelines (or rules) for what has been used by composers in the past to create various sounds you hear every day in music. Some people tend to understand these structures instinctively, and may not even be aware of it when they write songs. I look to musicians such as Paul McCartney and John Lennon as examples of people who seem to have this innate understanding. Their songs make a lot of sense musically, even though they may not have ever studied music theory or harmony in their development as song writers. However, when you read about Paul McCartney’s upbringing you find that his father played piano at home and was a huge fan of Broadway show music. Paul’s brain was probably infused with a lot of good examples of common chord progressions, song structures, and melodies that he heard so often as a kid, leaving an indelible impact on his musical instincts as a song writer.  In fact you can hear some of this show-music influence in some of his songs such like “When I’m 64” and “Your Mother Should Know”.

The music you listen to affects your musical instincts

Your ear will often tell you when things work (or not) even if your brain is not aware of the structure, only because your brain is already used to hearing these patterns in other music that you have been exposed to. The lesson here is to listen to great music as often as you can and absorb it! Even if you don’t understand it all, your brain is taking it all in and developing your internal reference points about “what works” in song writing. But don’t stop there, expose your kids to as much great music as often as you can while they are growing up. Expose them to everything: Jazz, Blues, Classic Rock, show tunes, orchestral music, Country, Bluegrass … everything from Abba to Zappa. You never know if you may have a young Paul Simon or Carol King in your midst, absorbing all of that music like a sponge.

One of the most powerful concepts of music theory is gaining an understanding of harmony

Harmony in this sense refers to the way various notes sound together, not limited only to vocal harmony but any sound source, whether those notes are played on a chordal instrument (such as a piano or guitar) or played by more than one instrument (such as a group of violins, horns, or a guitar and bass playing together). When more than one note is sounding at a time, you have harmony. BJF09_SaxPackAs I will explain, various notes sounded together will create different harmony depending upon how far apart they are in pitch. Some combination of pitches create pleasant, stable sounds to your ear, and some are tense and unstable, depending on this distance between the notes. Composers use these pleasant (consonance) and tense (dissonance) sounds to create tension and release in their music. This is part of the way emotion is conveyed through music, using this interplay of tension and release. If all music consisted only of pleasant, consonant harmonies and no dissonance, then it would be like watching a movie where there is no conflict, sadness, or struggle, and only happiness from beginning to end.  (Although you may want this effect if you’re writing music to be used for relaxation therapy).  The opposite is also true.   A song with dissonance from beginning to end creates a feeling of uneasiness.   It’s no accident that alarm systems take advantage of dissonant harmony when they design the combination of pitches for an alarm sound.  They want to create a feeling of uneasiness alertness.

Although having a solid understanding of harmony won’t make you a more creative composer, it does provide you with a set of tools to draw from for helping you along the way to refining your inspired ideas into something that is more complete. It also helps you to explore options as you find yourself working through ideas in the songwriting process. It is also an invaluable asset in the arranging and production process as you work through musical parts that need to sound good together, supporting the harmonic structure of the song itself. As an example, check out this version of Elenor Rigby as it likely sounded when Paul McCartney first wrote the basic structure of the tune (although his original version was on piano, and John wrote the lyrics), where you will hear the basic form of the song but nothing more. By contrast, later in the video you hear the full version of the song with the string quartet accompaniment that George Martin brought to it.   You’re hearing George Martin’s skill in applying his understanding of harmony and orchestration to fully realize the potential of the underlying harmony in the song.

The string accompaniment is part of the magic that made this song so amazing.   This is why we want to learn about harmony!

In this series of upcoming articles, I hope to answer some of the following questions (I’ll add more to this list as I cover more topics):

  • Why study music theory at all? (covered in this article)
  • What are intervals and how are they used in music?
  • What are key signatures?
  • What is a major scale?
  • What is a minor scale?
  • Where do chords come from and how do you know which notes are contained in a given chord?
  • What are chord progressions and how are they used in composing?
  • What are chord inversions?
  • What are chord voicings?
  • How can you apply “Jazzier” sounding chords in your song writing?
  • What are chord substitutions and how do you use them?
  • How do you come up with more interesting bass lines, or create “walking” bass lines for a given chord progression?
  • What is an arpeggios and how are they used in music?
  • What are modes and how do you apply them in your songwriting?

Rural Southern Theme Music for Reality TV

      1. Gator Alley
 
      2. Swamp Romp

Here are some rural southern theme music examples that I’ve created for reality-TV-show opportunities based on this setting. I used elements of Country, Blues, as well as more modern grooves that are common with the music used in these kinds of shows.

Surf Maniacs at Manhattan Pier

surf-photo

      1. Surf Maniacs at Manhattan Pier - Surf Maniacs at Manhattan Pier composed and recorded by Jim Pfeifer 2014 All Rights Reserved
I’ve been a member of a surf band for several years and I’ve always loved the challenge of trying to capture those classic sounds of surf music from the early 60s. The instrumental music of that era had so much style and an exciting vibe. Fender amps with plenty of reverb and tremolo, in addition guitars with “whammy bars” became a must have for every garage band trying to emulate this style. I’ve tried to recreate that sound with this song

Casa Batlo

Casa Batlo - Barcelona, Spain

      1. Casa Batlo
This song was inspired by a building I saw in Barcelona, Spain that was designed by the architect Antoni Gaudi in 1877. His buildings are works of art that seem to be from another time and place. It moved me to see this one lit up at night. I had this feeling stuck in my head for weeks after seeing it, and wrote this song to capture that feeling. I used Ukulele, Classical Guitar, Bass, and Strings for the arrangement.

Avalon Morning

Russian River Valley

      1. Avalon Morning
I wrote this song while on vacation in the Russian River Valley (California’s Wine Country) in the summer of 2012. I tried to capture the sound of the morning among the redwood trees and vineyards surrounding the place we were staying.

Zenoid Rumble

Zenoids

      1. Zenoid Rumble
A few years ago I entered a songwriting contest for a new online cartoon show called The Zenoids.  The assignment was to come up with a 42-second piece of music to be used in the opening theme for this cartoon, involving alien characters.  The judges for this contest included William Shatner and Michael Giaccino (famous Hollywood film composer).  My entry was one of the top-40 finalists.  I was thrilled to get that far as the competition was very good!  You can see the entire list of competitors here.

Park Bench

Park-Bench

      1. Park Bench
I wrote this song to capture the vibe of an elderly couple sitting on a park bench. I was going for an innocent, sentimental sort of vibe that might be used as background soundtrack for a scene in a movie, or a TV ad. To capture this sentimental, old-fashioned vibe, I made use of my favorite quirky-sounding instrument the Dobro, along with my favorite innocent-sounding rhythm instrument, the Ukulele, to add a bounce to the accompaniment. I used the Dobro in the same way that a slide trombone might be used in a song like this, to add that old-time kind of southern sound to the piece.  This song was placed in an episode of “Return to Amish” on the TLC Network.

Late Night Stomp’n

Comedy-Club

      1. Late Night Stomp'n
I’ve always loved some of the theme music used in late-night-comedy shows. This song is my own experiment in coming up with a theme for a late-night-comedy show, using all of the elements that I like so much about this kind of theme music

Las Ramblas

Las-Ramblas-photo

      1. Las Ramblas
I wrote this song to capture the feeling of shopping at an outdoor market, much like the way I’ve felt when visiting an area called Las Ramblas in Barcelona. I used handclaps, acoustic guitar, and other acoustic sounds to get a more earthy sound as well as to add a more organic rhythm sound.

Space Age Man Cave

Space-Age-Man-Cave-Image2

      1. Space Age Man Cave - Space Age Man Cave
I wrote this song as a tribute to the genre known as “Space Age Pop”, made famous by composers such as Henry Mancini and Juan Garcia Esquivel in the late 50’s and early 60’s. This style of music was used in so much of the TV and film of the 60s for shows like “The Pink Panther”, “I Dream of Jeanie” and lots of others. I had a lot of fun working on this tune, but it really tested my skills in coming up with interesting horn parts that sounded authentic. I still love listening to these composers for inspiration

The Lost Dutchman Trail

Lost Dutchman Trail

      1. The Lost Dutchman Trail - The Lost Dutchman Trail composed and recorded by Jim Pfeifer 2013 All Rights Reserved
I wrote this song as a self-imposed assignment to write a piece of music in the style of a spaghetti western films of the 1960s. I’ve always loved that music! This piece is the result of a few months work on the song ideas and arrangement I came up with. Not only did I have to spend some time working up my my whistling technique, I also called on my friend John Ryan to play the harmonica part to get that old-west vibe that I was going for. He nailed it. The real Lost Dutchman Trail is not far from where I live in Arizona. This song is an attempt to capture some of the magic and beauty I see in those picturesque Superstition Mountains.